Davis Cup

Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez fought off a brave challenge from the Indian duo of Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni in the doubles rubber to hand Spain an unassailable 3-0 lead in their Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie in New Delhi on Saturday.

The Indians troubled the gold medal winners at last month's Rio Olympics throughout the hard-fought contest before going down 6-4, 6-7 (2), 4-6, 4-6 in three hours and 23 minutes in front of a raucous home crowd at the jampacked R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium.

The visiting Argentine squad was given a huge boost with Del Potro's return to singles, as he defeated second-ranked Murray in the dramatic and pivotal opening match of the tie, being played at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, on Friday.

Australia has secured their spot in the Davis Cup World Group for the fourth consecutive year after defeating Slovakia 3-0 in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Play-off tie at Ken Rosewall Arena today.

John Peers gained his first Davis Cup victory when he and Sam Groth defeated Andrej Martin and Igor Zelenay in four sets 6-4 6-2 6-7(3) 7-6(2) to win the doubles rubber.

Canada is now just one triumph away from ousting Chile in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group play-offs after Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, Ont.) and Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver) both captured victories on Friday. Dancevic opened the tie, being held at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4 victory over Christian Garin before Pospisil defeated Nicolas Jarry 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-3 to give Canada its best-case result on the first day of play.

Dancevic started well, taking the first set in just 31 minutes, and looked to be on his way to a simple two-set lead. However, despite serving for the second set twice and leading 5-1 in the tiebreaker, the veteran Canuck let 20-year-old Garin back into the match. After re-grouping, Dancevic was able to quickly re-assert his lead by reeling off five straight games. He was the stronger player from that point on, showing his greater experience in both Davis Cup play and on a fast indoor hard court surface.

Feliciano Lopez and David Ferrer won their respective singles matches on the opening day of their Davis Cup World Group Play-off against India at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium here on Friday, taking Spain to a comfortable 2-0 lead.

Feliciano defeated Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the first match of the day in two hours and 15 minutes. Later, Ferrer outclassed Saketh Myneni 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 in an hour and 25 minutes in a rather lopsided encounter to hand the visitors a comfortable lead.